


Children

by AlmondRose



Category: Batman (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, a good solid au, there's one instance of stabbery in this fic so if u don't like it don't read it i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 16:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11490690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: Jason is dead, to begin with.





	Children

Everything shatters around him, and Bruce’s can almost physically feel his heart shatter. Everything is terrible and everything is gone. 

 

Bruce holds his son in his arms and he thinks that his life is over. 

 

Dick doesn’t need him anymore, Bruce has been nothing but a burden on Alfred, and Jason--well. 

 

Bruce holds Jason closer and he doesn’t want to let go. 

 

Bruce buries Jason on a warm spring day and he hates everyone and everything, except Dick, who’s somewhere here, Bruce knows, and Alfred, who should hate Bruce but doesn’t. 

  
Batman doesn’t matter anymore, Jason is  _ dead.  _

 

_ Bruce  _ doesn’t matter anymore, Jason is  _ dead.  _

 

Is there anything left to live for?

 

Bruce turns away from the grave and suddenly Dick is there. He’s bigger than he had been and he takes one look at Bruce and then his arms are around him. Dick’s bigger than before but he’s still small enough-or maybe Bruce is big enough--to hold him, to curl over him. 

 

Neither of them are crying, but Bruce knows Dick has been. Bruce can’t remember if  _ he’s  _ been crying at all. 

 

He holds Dick and he remembers something he’s said before--the only thing he’s done right in life is raise his son to be better than him. 

 

Back then, he had thought that Jason was going to grow up, too, and then Bruce would have two sons that were better than him. Now he has only one, and the fog in Bruce’s mind clears. 

 

He realizes that Dick’s been holding him, too. 

 

He makes up his mind. 

  
  
  
  


He doesn’t use a gun. Even now, when everything doesn’t matter anymore, nothing matters except Jason and Dick and this  _ never happening again,  _ Bruce can’t use a gun. 

 

He uses a sword, because Talia used swords, gave him that sword, and they’d talked about kids. She’s the only one he’d ever talked about kids with before. The sword reminds him of  _ what could’ve been,  _ and that’s what’s important.  _ What could’ve been.  _

 

Bruce considers doing it dramatically, but that doesn’t matter anymore. 

 

He systematically tracks down the Joker and after he does, he slips into the warehouse. Quietly. 

 

It’s better that it’s a clean death, that Bruce doesn’t actually talk to the Joker, so he doesn't get aggravated. 

 

He comes up from behind. 

 

It’s over before the Joker has a chance to laugh, and Bruce leaves an anonymous tip with Arkham before he leaves. 

 

He cleans the blood from the sword and puts it back on his wall. 

 

“What did you  _ do?”  _ Dick asks, horror in his voice, when Bruce is putting the sword back. Bruce pauses. There’s no blood on the Batsuit. 

 

There was when Jason died. 

 

“He’s dead now,” Bruce says, and Dick takes a sharp intake of breath. 

 

“ _ Bruce,”  _ Dick says. “I thought you said that if you kill someone--anyone--you wouldn’t be able to stop.”

 

Bruce turns. 

 

“ _ I  _ didn’t kill him,” he says. “He was dead the  _ second  _ he touched my son.”

 

Then he marches past Dick and he doesn’t think Dick has a response. 

 

It’s okay, Bruce thinks. He’ll understand. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading this mess, please leave comments and or kudos!!


End file.
